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Seattle’s Hotel Scene Perks Up

Four Seasons returns, gets it right; getting along with the Lusty Lady

By

Laura Landro

Updated July 31, 2009 7:20 p.m. ET

From our floor-to-ceiling picture windows on a high floor at the new Four Seasons Seattle, the view of Elliott Bay—with its container ships and ferries, and the Olympic Peninsula’s mountains in the distance—can take your breath away.

Look straight down, however, and the scene is pure Seattle grunge: the city’s steam plant and an unsightly warehouse labeled “Public Storage.” Smokestacks billow and traffic whizzes by on the city’s...